#and the conservatives

[fenrirgraves]

I haven't posted here in forever and I don't know how much I will still now even going forward. Post limit sucks and I don't even know what I actually want out of this website because fandom across the board is just dead to me and capitalism sucks and politicians suck and I'm honestly just so fucking exhausted with everything. Even the visual designs of the world we live in are just so boring and soul-sucking and corporate. I seek to be the eternal enemy of that, and douse the world in eyebleed colors and sounds most peculiar. But dude I am just so exhausted. I'm just so tired of all the violence, hatred, greed, and suffering in this world. The glorification of cruelty and ignorance. There is always beauty and love, always. But boy, it's been rough lately. October was a hell of a month, both incredible (got to see my favorite band twice in a row, as well as attend and play an incredible experimental music festival) and awful (lost my grandmother whom I have always been very, very close with).

And honestly dude I just always feel like a side of beef in general, like too little butter over too much bread, and this stuff isn't making it any easier. But I'm hanging in there and know the only way out is through, and the only way through is with love.

[cornyonmains]

Something I find very interesting about this CEO assassination is that the guy who did it has basically become an American hero.

They're probably quite worried about what will happen when they catch this guy, especially with the level of public support he has. If they catch him alive and he gets to air his grievances, he could unite the entire country against the private healthcare system. It could go to trial and result in jury nullification, which would basically send a message to the American public that catching a rich body comes without consquences.

If they kill him to keep his mouth shut, I'd say people will burn cities to the ground, and it could potentially provoke even more anger against private health insurance. In a powder keg, it only takes one person lighting the match.

I know it sounds over the top, but a figurehead is a powerful thing, and that's what this shooter is. The rich understand it. That's why Blue Cross just magically decided they were going to pay for anesthesia again. Those dead-eyed psychopaths were going to take everything they could until someone shot that guy and that's the gospel truth.

Keep the hate fire burning. Watching their fear is the closest I've come to knowing joy since the Bush administration.

[great-and-small]

Watching Przewalski's horses run free on the Kazakhstan steppe for the first time in 200 years

[theconcealedweapon]

This is coming from the same people who want the government to force preteens to give birth.

It's also coming from the same people who judge people for being childfree.

[typhlonectes]

[queerism1969]

[herpsandbirds]

All of my friends that work at wildlife rehab centers have had to untangle animals from this stuff, or had animals brought in that died in it. This is especially nasty for small owl species.

[cyarskaren52]

[cbcbiology]

These little dudes are not only chillin' but also warming themselves in heated cubbies to help them beat a fungal infection!!

Photo from the article in Science.

Research abstract: Nature

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[thedisablednaturalist]

Im fucking sobbing looking at the new black footed cat at Utah's Hogle zoo

Shes just a fucking baby

Baby with a 60% successful kill rate

[great-and-small]

When I was in vet school I went to this one lecture that I will never forget. Various clubs would have different guest lecturers come in to talk about relevant topics and since I was in the Wildlife Disease Association club I naturally attended all the wildlife and conservation discussions. Well on this particular occasion, the speakers started off telling us they had been working on a project involving the conservation of lemurs in Madagascar. Lemurs exist only in Madagascar, and they are in real trouble; they’re considered the most endangered group of mammals on Earth. This team of veterinarians was initially assembled to address threats to lemur health and work on conservation solutions to try and save as many lemur species from extinction as possible. As they explored the most present dangers to lemurs they found that although habitat loss was the primary problem for these vulnerable animals, predation by humans was a significant cause of losses as well. The vets realized it was crucial for the hunting of lemurs by native people to stop, but of course this is not so simple a problem.

The local Malagasy people are dealing with extreme poverty and food insecurity, with nearly half of children under five years old suffering from chronic malnutrition. The local people have always subsisted on hunting wildlife for food, and as Madagascar’s wildlife population declines, the people who rely on so-called bushmeat to survive are struggling more and more. People are literally starving.

Our conservation team thought about this a lot. They had initially intended to focus efforts on education but came to understand that this is not an issue arising from a lack of knowledge. For these people it is a question of survival. It doesn’t matter how many times a foreigner tells you not to eat an animal you’ve hunted your entire life, if your child is starving you are going to do everything in your power to keep your family alive.

So the vets changed course. Rather than focus efforts on simply teaching people about lemurs, they decided to try and use veterinary medicine to reduce the underlying issue of food insecurity. They supposed that if a reliable protein source could be introduced for the people who needed it, the dependence on meat from wildlife would greatly decrease. So they got to work establishing new flocks of chickens in the most at-risk communities, and also initiated an aggressive vaccination program for Newcastle disease (an infectious illness of poultry that is of particular concern in this area). They worked with over 600 households to ensure appropriate husbandry and vaccination for every flock, and soon found these communities were being transformed by the introduction of a steady protein source. Families with a healthy flock of chickens were far less likely to hunt wild animals like lemurs, and fewer kids went hungry. Thats what we call a win-win situation.

This chicken vaccine program became just one small part of an amazing conservation outreach initiative in Madagascar that puts local people at the center of everything they do. Helping these vulnerable communities of people helps similarly vulnerable wildlife, always. If we go into a country guns-blazing with that fire for conservation in our hearts and a plan to save native animals, we simply cannot ignore the humans who live around them. Doing so is counterintuitive to creating an effective plan because whether we recognize it or not, humans and animals are inextricably linked in many ways. A true conservation success story is one that doesn’t leave needy humans in its wake, and that is why I think this particular story has stuck with me for so long.

(Source 1)

(Source 2- cool video exploring this initiative from some folks involved)

(Source 3)

[theconcealedweapon]

Why do conservatives complain about the price of gas and groceries?

If you don't like the price of gas and groceries, just stop buying gas and groceries.

What's that? That's horrible advice?

Well, that's the exact advice you've been giving to other struggling people since the beginning of time. You've been nonchalantly defending the free market whenever it was harmful to others. You convinced yourself that those who are struggling deserve it until you became one. Then, you suddenly decided that it must be some deep state conspiracy instead of accepting that what's happening to you is exactly what you dismissed when it was happening to others.